In a recent article, authors Laurie A. Rudman and Jessica B. Heppen introduce a new concept called the “Glass Slipper Effect.” This is how the authors describe it:

Romantic fairy tales… can be summed up as, “Once upon a time, a young maiden in dire straits was rescued by a wealthy man of royal birth. After sufficient tests of the maiden’s love and patience, she was crowned the man’s princess and lived happily ever after.”

This happens more often to young women than men. Now the problem is that this sort of thinking can lead to gender inequalities. In the abstract, the authors note that those who hold on to these romantic fantasies:

implicit (but not explicit) romantic fantasies negatively predicted women’s interest in personal power, including projected income, education goal, interest in high-status jobs, and group leadership appeal. By contrast, men’s implicit romantic fantasies were not routinely linked to their interest in personal power. In concert, the findings are consistent with positing a “glass slipper” effect for women that may be an implicit barrier to gender equity.

In other words, giving up the romantic fantasies, then, seems to be a contribution to have gender equality.

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About shaunmiller

I am a Ph. D student at Marquette University. The primary purpose of this blog is to get my ideas out there, and then have other people scrutinize, critique, build upon, and systematize beliefs. This blog will sometimes pertain to what I'm learning in my classes, but it will occasionally deal with non-classroom issues that I'm thinking about as well.

One Response to The Glass Slipper Effect and Gender Roles

Hey Shaun, I like where this post is going, but it seems to drop off too soon. My suggestion is that after the quotation, readers will understand better if you de-code the quote. Sentences that start with “In other words,” are especially helpful.